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Speaker 2: journal of News and Kurture Latino USAIX Latino Latino USA.

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Speaker 1: I'm Maria Ino Hoosa. We bring you stories that are

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Speaker 1: underreported but that mattered to you, overlooked by the rest

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Speaker 1: of the media, and while the country is struggling.

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Speaker 2: To deal with these, we listen to the stories of

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Speaker 2: black and Latinos.

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Speaker 1: Studio United Latino Front.

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Speaker 2: A cultural renaissance organizing at the forefront of the movement.

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Speaker 1: I'm Maria Inojosa. Nose Bayan.

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Speaker 3: Futuro Investigates Investia.

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Speaker 2: Dear let you know USA listener, just a quick warning,

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Speaker 2: this is an investigation into sexual abuse at ICE detention centers.

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Speaker 2: So we just wanted to let you know to prepare.

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Speaker 2: Since the beginning of my career, immigration has been at

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Speaker 2: the core of my work as a journalist, and one

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Speaker 2: of the things I've focused on has been what happens

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Speaker 2: in US immigration and Customs enforcement, what happens in these

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Speaker 2: detention centers. Claims of sexual abuse are widespread throughout the US.

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Speaker 2: Back in twenty eleven, I anchored a PBS Frontline documentary.

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Speaker 2: It was a film called Lost in Detention, and we

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Speaker 2: looked at the increasing numbers of people under detention in

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Speaker 2: these centers and all of this happening under the Obama administration.

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Speaker 3: We know that there are many more cases that don't

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Speaker 3: get investigated, where people do not get held accountable for

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Speaker 3: the abuse or the rape of immigrants.

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Speaker 2: And one of the hardest things was hearing about the

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Speaker 2: sexual abuse that was happening inside these government run facilities.

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Speaker 2: And then what happened.

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Speaker 4: He said, if you tell anyone, you wouldn't come out

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Speaker 4: of your life to see your family, So then who

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Speaker 4: are you going to?

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Speaker 2: That work has stayed with me, but then a decade

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Speaker 2: after it aired, in twenty twenty two, I get this

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Speaker 2: message on Twitter from a young journalist named Zeba Warsei.

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Speaker 2: She was working on an investigative story and she wanted

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Speaker 2: to meet.

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Speaker 5: Well.

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Speaker 2: So here we are in the studio isabah Hi. So

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Speaker 2: back in twenty twenty two, when you were a student

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Speaker 2: at Columbia Journalism School and you come and meet me

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Speaker 2: at my office at Barnard College where I'm a professor,

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Speaker 2: and I remember you were like, look, I'm a journalist,

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Speaker 2: I have a career in India. But the story that

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Speaker 2: brings you here in part was this interest that you

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Speaker 2: had in what was happening in these immigrant detention centers.

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Speaker 6: That's right. I wanted to know how ICE operates. I

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Speaker 6: thought this was a big law enforcement agency under the

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Speaker 6: Department of Homeland Security, which hosts thousands of immigrants who

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Speaker 6: don't have a legal status.

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Speaker 2: In attention, right, these are people who are held by

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Speaker 2: the US government, but they have no legal standing, They

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Speaker 2: have no right to do process, they don't get a lawyer.

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Speaker 2: It's a very different thing than being in the criminal system,

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Speaker 2: where you actually have rights.

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Speaker 6: Absolutely, this investigation began as my master's teas about abuses

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Speaker 6: in ICE detention centers, and then I got more and

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Speaker 6: more interested in focusing on the sexual abuse that was

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Speaker 6: happening in these facilities. Your documentary, Maria, was in fact

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Speaker 6: one of the first pieces of journalism I watched to

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Speaker 6: help me understand how ICE works and how ICE was

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Speaker 6: dealing with sexual abuse.

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Speaker 2: The decade later, I get your message, Saber, and I

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Speaker 2: was very moved by this young, very hungry reporter who

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Speaker 2: more than a decade after my reporting, wanted to look

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Speaker 2: into the issue of sexual abuse that was happening in

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Speaker 2: ICE detention.

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Speaker 6: Yes, and for me it was also a chance to

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Speaker 6: learn from another woman journalist such as you, Maria, an

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Speaker 6: immigrant herself, who has been investigating this type of abuse

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Speaker 6: for many years, and who cares about this kind of

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Speaker 6: reportage because no matter how much time passes, as journalists,

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Speaker 6: we need to shine light on abuses if they continue

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Speaker 6: to happen. And we found women who have recently complained

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Speaker 6: about sexual abuse and ICE facilities, women like Viviana, Marlissa and.

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Speaker 7: Mari Sinto tritesa Sinto Fortasion.

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Speaker 8: So you run away from trauma to come here and

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Speaker 8: view with trauma again.

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Speaker 3: Joe v v Sufria Wilso selling as a lugar.

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Speaker 2: You hope that when you do your reporting that things

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Speaker 2: are going to get better, And I wanted to know,

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Speaker 2: so has anything changed about how ICE handles cases of

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Speaker 2: sexual abuse? Are survivors getting any justice? And so view

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Speaker 2: Zeba and I, both of us immigrant women, two different generations,

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Speaker 2: we decided to team up to find the answers from

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Speaker 2: Futuro Media and PRX It's Latino USA. I'm Maria in

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Speaker 2: Josa today they felt immensely invisible, but these immigrant women

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Speaker 2: are fighting back. A story by Futuro Investigates in collaboration

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Speaker 2: with Latino USA about sexual abuse in ice detention centers.

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Speaker 2: We look at how women are sexually abused when they're

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Speaker 2: at their most vulnerable in a medical setting, and how

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Speaker 2: ICE has done very little to stop it. So remember

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Speaker 2: I meet Zeba when she's a student at the Columbia

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Speaker 2: Journalism School. Then she gets her job at the PBS

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Speaker 2: News Hour, and starting in the fall of twenty twenty two,

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Speaker 2: she and I and our team have been interviewing women

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Speaker 2: around the country about their time in ice detention.

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Speaker 1: Yes, Maria.

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Speaker 6: Since I began investigating the story in twenty twenty one,

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Speaker 6: almost two years now, I've spoken to dozens of women

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Speaker 6: in detention centers. The first woman we interviewed together was

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Speaker 6: Viviana we met in a suburb of Houston, Texas. Vivianna

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Speaker 6: is not her real name, but we're using it to

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Speaker 6: protect her identity.

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Speaker 1: We're meeting her right now for the first time.

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Speaker 8: Kay, nice to meet you in person.

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Speaker 6: Thank you.

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Speaker 2: I was struck by how gorgeous she was five feet two, long,

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Speaker 2: straight dark hair, very young and vivacious. But also there

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Speaker 2: was something really somber about her eyes. And I noticed

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Speaker 2: how every time she would get emotional, she would start

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Speaker 2: touching the gold rosary around her neck.

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Speaker 6: Juno saki or amil.

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Speaker 2: And she says that she didn't even know until the

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Speaker 2: last minute if she was going to be able to

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Speaker 2: retell what happened to her while she was in attention,

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Speaker 2: And even though she was scared, frankly traumatized, she pushed

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Speaker 2: through and decided to talk to us.

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Speaker 6: Viviana left Venezuela in twenty fourteen. She was twenty one

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Speaker 6: years old at the time and was studying law. Her

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Speaker 6: family was part of a political party opposing the government.

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Speaker 6: She told us that they began to receive death threats.

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Speaker 6: This was a moment of political crisis in Venezuela. The

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Speaker 6: longtime president, Hugosha Viz died a year before, and there

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Speaker 6: were protests against the new president, Nicolas Maduro.

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Speaker 7: Akia was Telir Singh Tabo signe signa Forlanz.

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Speaker 2: So she and her mother and her two brothers fled

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Speaker 2: to Panama, but as more and more Venezuelans arrived, Vivianna

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Speaker 2: said her family became victims of xenophobia. After seven years

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Speaker 2: of living in Panama, Vianna and her mother knew it

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Speaker 2: was time to leave, so they made the arduous journey

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Speaker 2: across the US Mexico border. In September of twenty twenty one.

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Speaker 2: It was a record year in the number of border

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Speaker 2: patrol encounters, more than one point seven million. Viviana and

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Speaker 2: her mother were detained in Texas in one of those encounters,

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Speaker 2: and border patrol then handed them over to an ice

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Speaker 2: processing center in Houston.

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Speaker 7: Mei Lang and Guartos on the Tquito emails.

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Speaker 1: So followed bor.

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Speaker 2: Then Vivianna was separated from her mother. She was locked

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Speaker 2: in a tiny cold room. She was told by the

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Speaker 2: staff that she had tuberculosis. She didn't understand English at

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Speaker 2: the time, so she panicked and she basically couldn't sleep.

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Speaker 6: She said she was put in isolation for days, she

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Speaker 6: couldn't tell if it was day or night. The only

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Speaker 6: light she could see was from a TV that was

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Speaker 6: always left on.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, just see tokyom. Then through the DC something broke

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Speaker 1: inside of you. Ce Si Jo.

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Speaker 7: Record, Gilma Maraami, MoMA, Lacentia, Tiquita.

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Speaker 6: By then she was twenty eight years old, but she

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Speaker 6: felt like a little girl again, crying and asking to

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Speaker 6: speak with her mom. And then the vienna was transferred

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Speaker 6: to Stuart Detention Center in Georgia.

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Speaker 2: For most of the time that the Stuart Detention Facility

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Speaker 2: has been open, it has housed mostly men. But something

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Speaker 2: happened in Georgia and now women, immigrants and refugees were

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Speaker 2: being transferred to Stuart.

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Speaker 6: Yes, Maria, something that happened at another facility. You probably

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Speaker 6: remember the horrific headlines.

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Speaker 5: A group of Margaret women is coming forward with claims

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Speaker 5: that they were the victims of unwanted and unnecessary medical

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Speaker 5: procedures at a federal detention center in Georgia.

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Speaker 2: It became a national story because the abuses that medical

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Speaker 2: staff were accused of at Erwin included a gynecologist performing

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Speaker 2: hysterectomies without the women knowing about it. Erwin was closed

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one because of this scandal, and some

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Speaker 2: of the women who had been detained at Erwin were

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Speaker 2: now transferred to Stuart, some one hundred miles west in

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Speaker 2: the state of Georgia. The idea was that they would

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Speaker 2: be safe from medical and sexual abuse if they were transferred,

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Speaker 2: but in fact, Zeba, what did happen? Were the women

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Speaker 2: who were transferred to Stuart to keep them safe? Were

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Speaker 2: they actually safe? And that's the question we had, which

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Speaker 2: is how we meet Vivianna, the woman from Venezuela.

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Speaker 6: During her first weeks detailed at Stuart, Vivianna had a

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Speaker 6: urinary tract infection. She was prescribed medication that gave her

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Speaker 6: a severe allergic reaction.

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Speaker 2: Your face is swollen, your lips are swollen. You were

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Speaker 2: unable to breathe, and you were feeling incredibly scared. She

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Speaker 2: tells us that in that moment of total vulnerability, that's

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Speaker 2: when she met this male nurse, a short white man

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Speaker 2: with a beard. And we should warn you. The following

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Speaker 2: descriptions of her visits are explicit. They are hard to

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Speaker 2: listen to, but we also believe that they're necessary to

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Speaker 2: understand what Viviana and other women go.

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Speaker 7: Through may see Aki.

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Speaker 2: So he's using a stethoscope to put it on your

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Speaker 2: lower body. So I'm just to describe what you're showing

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Speaker 2: me is that he takes the stethoscope and he basically

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Speaker 2: puts it right where a woman's ovary might be.

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Speaker 7: You are as yeah Aria.

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Speaker 2: Vivianna told us that while examining her with the stethoscope,

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Speaker 2: the nurse asked her to open her mouth and then

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Speaker 2: to open it wider. He then stepped away and typed

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Speaker 2: a question into Google Translate, and this made her feel

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Speaker 2: even more uncomfortable and.

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Speaker 4: Seek.

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Speaker 2: So at this point he writes a note to you

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Speaker 2: that asks you, if you have a boyfriend, punish noovo see.

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Speaker 6: And then it happened again. Vivianna had problems with her eyes,

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Speaker 6: and eyes eventually sent her back to the same male nurse.

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Speaker 6: As Viviana entered the room, she felt uneasy. It was nighttime,

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Speaker 6: the room was dimly lit and smelt of bleach. All

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Speaker 6: Vivianna could think of was that that nurse was staring

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Speaker 6: at her and they were all alone, mad alone. The

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Speaker 6: nurse told Viviana to lower her pants, then he placed

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Speaker 6: the statoscope near her vagina.

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Speaker 7: As yeah uta si yes, yes, c como he torrado

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Speaker 7: como sosios sonrea.

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Speaker 1: Amidawa.

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Speaker 6: While touching her, Viviana says the nurse made lude faces.

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Speaker 9: U U.

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Speaker 6: Viviana froze. She kept quiet and stared off into space,

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Speaker 6: praying and asking herself why was this nurse doing this

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Speaker 6: to her?

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Speaker 2: This all made me remember what I saw over a

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Speaker 2: decade ago when I reported for the frontline docu Mentory.

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Speaker 2: I saw complaint boxes in a nice detention facility, but

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Speaker 2: the complaint box was nailed shut. You couldn't even put

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Speaker 2: a complaint in the box. And now Vivianna is telling

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Speaker 2: us that there were posters at Stuart with the phone

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Speaker 2: number and the poster said if you suffer from abuse, call.

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Speaker 1: That No matter.

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Speaker 5: Why that.

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Speaker 6: Now there are posters everywhere seeing ICE has zero tolerance.

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Speaker 6: But Viviana said they were just protocol and didn't do

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Speaker 6: much to stop the abuse. Women who are abused in

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Speaker 6: detention are supposed to be protected by the Prison Rape

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Speaker 6: Elimination Act or PRIYA. That law says that people who

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Speaker 6: are detailed have a right to speak out freely and

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Speaker 6: report abuse and harassment.

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Speaker 2: PRIA was created in two thousand and three, it took

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Speaker 2: more than a decade to be fully extended into ICE

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Speaker 2: detention because it's completely in the and from the criminal

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Speaker 2: justice system. Three years after the Frontline documentary aired, Priya

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Speaker 2: was finally extended to ICE detention centers in twenty fourteen.

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Speaker 2: But that's still several years before Viviana was detained at Stewart.

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Speaker 2: We're hearing from Vienna that she was being abused. So

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Speaker 2: the question is is that what's happened that now there

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Speaker 2: are just posters that say there's zero tolerance for sexual abuse.

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Speaker 6: Maria. I've been talking to officials at ICE for quite

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Speaker 6: a bit, exchanged dozens of emails, and this is what

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Speaker 6: I've learned that one of the few things that has

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Speaker 6: changed is that they conduct unannounced inspections of their facilities,

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Speaker 6: and the agency has increased audits and inspections since you've

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Speaker 6: investigated this topic. But activists, detainees and women we've spoken

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Speaker 6: to feared it's not enough.

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Speaker 2: The Southern Poy Law Center reviewed medical records and they

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Speaker 2: showed that the male nurse had been working at the

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Speaker 2: Stuart detention facility since at least twenty eighteen, and as

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Speaker 2: we mentioned before, in twenty twenty one women were now

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Speaker 2: being transferred to Stuart following the medical abuse scandal in Irwin,

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Speaker 2: the other detention facility in Georgia. So once women started

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Speaker 2: to arrive at Stuart, this nurse started seeing female patients,

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Speaker 2: and Vivianna said, he started abusing them.

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Speaker 1: This nurse and his abuse, you believe was not a secret.

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Speaker 2: To anybody who had spent any time inside Stuart, whether

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Speaker 2: they were his colleagues or people who were detained duci

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Speaker 2: in Disquito Mundo Sabia de Ste Fermero Claro.

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Speaker 6: After that second incident with the nurse, Viviana returned to

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Speaker 6: her cell and broke down in tears. She told other

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Speaker 6: detainees what happened to her, Dye, what the anasla il?

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Speaker 2: So you feel like you were one of the people

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Speaker 2: who helped the other women start naming what was happening.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, Yama Nicarawa.

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Speaker 6: May say solo women from different countries told her that

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Speaker 6: these suffered similar abuses from the same male nurse. We've

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Speaker 6: reviewed documents obtained by The Intercept, who first reported on

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Speaker 6: the Stewart complaints, that show that at least five women

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Speaker 6: came forward and complained against the male nurse.

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Speaker 2: Coming up on Latino USA, we're gonna hear from Marii,

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Speaker 2: another woman who was abused by the same male nurse,

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Speaker 2: and what her story reveals about the way ICE handles

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Speaker 2: complaints of sexual abuse.

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Speaker 1: Stay with us, not debyas.

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Speaker 9: Hi, dear listener. My name is Lenaldo Leos Junior, and

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Speaker 9: I'm a producer with Latino USA. As a producer, part

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Speaker 9: of my job is to speak with people from across

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Speaker 9: the country and in some occasions travel around the United States.

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Speaker 9: And this is something that Latino USA has been doing

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Speaker 9: for thirty years, is bringing the voices from people across

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Speaker 9: the country to the airwaves and to our podcast. Thank

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Speaker 9: you for supporting us these past three decades, and I

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Speaker 9: hope you stay with us for many more years to come.

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Speaker 2: Hey, we're back. Before the break, we heard from Bivianna.

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Speaker 2: She was held at the ICE Stewart Detention Center in Georgia.

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Speaker 2: She says she sexually abused by medical staff there. And

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Speaker 2: we're going to continue our investigation now with Saba Warci.

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Speaker 2: She's the journalist from the PBS News Hour that we

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Speaker 2: teamed up with for this story. Hey, Zeba, Hey.

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Speaker 6: Maria, while with Vienna, was detained at Stewart, she heard

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Speaker 6: about other women who had been assaulted by the same

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Speaker 6: male nurse. One of them was another woman from Venezuela.

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Speaker 6: We're calling her Mari.

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Speaker 1: Oh La jeanyand Lois.

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Speaker 6: Okay, okay, we're coming. We met Marie in November of

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Speaker 6: twenty twenty two in a suburb of Chicago. She had

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Speaker 6: her hair nicely tied up high up in a pony.

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Speaker 6: She was wearing an all black outfit, and she had

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Speaker 6: these big gold hoops and a necklace with honey popping

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Speaker 6: on it.

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Speaker 2: She pulls out these pictures on her phone that showed

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Speaker 2: us her life before she came to the United States.

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Speaker 5: She was a.

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Speaker 1: Bodybuilder, made up. Come on, yeah, the Holy.

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Speaker 2: Mati tells us that when she lived in Venezuela, she

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Speaker 2: trained every day, but once she got detained at Stewart,

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Speaker 2: she said that she was just too depressed to exercise

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Speaker 2: and she started to gain weight.

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Speaker 10: Look at that.

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Speaker 2: Madi told us that like Bi Vienna, she also had

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Speaker 2: grown up in a politically involved family in Venezuela, and

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Speaker 2: that she decided to leave her country with her boyfriend

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Speaker 2: in December of twenty twenty one to come to the

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Speaker 2: United States.

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Speaker 1: And finery.

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Speaker 2: Because of what she had seen in Venezuela. The injustices

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Speaker 2: she talks about. When she arrived in the United States,

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Speaker 2: she thought that the pain would be over. Addi and

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Speaker 2: her boyfriend crossed the border. They were both then held

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Speaker 2: in Houston, and then they were separated and Marie was

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Speaker 2: sent to Stuart in Georgia. She was only twenty two

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Speaker 2: years old at the time. Shortly after Marie arrived on

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Speaker 2: New Year's Eve of twenty twenty one, she had a

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Speaker 2: routine checkup at Stuart.

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Speaker 6: Mari was sent to a hallway filled with other women,

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Speaker 6: detainees and nurses. She waited for two hours, and then

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Speaker 6: she noticed that there was only one man in the area.

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Speaker 6: She thought he was a doctor. She later found out

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Speaker 6: that he was a nurse.

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Speaker 2: It was that male nurse who had already spotted Mary.

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Speaker 2: He then directed her to follow him to a small

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Speaker 2: room for her checkup. He closed the door behind him,

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Speaker 2: and Marie sat down on a chair.

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Speaker 6: Ai Yas saying to this to you in Spanish.

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Speaker 2: Hamas spoke to her in Spanish. He asked her some

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Speaker 2: routine questions, and then he told her that she was

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Speaker 2: very pretty. This put Mary on edge, and the nurse

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Speaker 2: asked if she had ever had any surgeries. Maty told

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Speaker 2: him yes, that she had had breast surgery. Mary says

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Speaker 2: that when she responded, the nurse then got excited and

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Speaker 2: stared at her chest. As a moment, the nurse asked

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Speaker 2: her some other medical questions, and then he told her

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Speaker 2: to lay down on the examination table. Now what happens

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Speaker 2: next is disturbing to hear. It is, but it's also

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Speaker 2: really important in order to understand the consequences that these

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Speaker 2: actions had on MARII. So while it's hard, please don't

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Speaker 2: turn away.

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Speaker 6: The nurse told Mary to pull up her shirt. When

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Speaker 6: she did, he hovered over her.

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Speaker 7: Your pience, okay, okayo consume him.

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Speaker 2: So he's pushing his penis up against your hand that

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Speaker 2: is next to your body because you're on a you're

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Speaker 2: on a stretcher.

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Speaker 7: Basically, yell comsa amavarse commno.

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Speaker 6: He then came closer to her and trapped her hand,

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Speaker 6: pushed himself very close to her, and used her hand

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Speaker 6: to masturbate him over his clothes.

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Speaker 5: She was shattered.

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Speaker 3: Yment Vetrosa.

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Speaker 2: I was suddenly taken back to twenty eleven when I

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Speaker 2: was reporting for the PBS documentary and it was these

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Speaker 2: very similar stories and so it's so hard to see

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Speaker 2: that this is still happening more than a decade later. Now,

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Speaker 2: both Marii and Bibiana, among other women, decided that they

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Speaker 2: were going to report what had happened to them, so

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Speaker 2: they took agency. They filed complaints against ICE and against

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Speaker 2: cor Civic. Corcivic is the private company that manages the

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Speaker 2: Stewart Detention Center where Muddy and Bibiana were held. Now.

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Speaker 1: Cor Civic is not new.

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Speaker 2: It used to be known as Corrections Corporation of America

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Speaker 2: and they've been around for a while ZEBA.

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Speaker 6: Yes, and Courcivic is the largest prison corporation in the

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Speaker 6: United States. It manages eleven detention centers, including Stuart. In

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Speaker 6: twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two, the company made

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Speaker 6: nearly a billion dollars in public money, with more than

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Speaker 6: half of that coming from ice detention centers. And get this,

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Speaker 6: When President Joe Biden took office in twenty twenty one,

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Speaker 6: he signed an executive order phasing out privately managed federal prisons,

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Speaker 6: but companies like Courcivic can still manage ICE facilities.

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Speaker 2: It's that double standard that allows immigrants to be more vulnerable.

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Speaker 1: They don't have the same.

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Speaker 6: Rights, and according to advocates, accountability is an even bigger

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Speaker 6: challenge in detention centers run by these private companies. This

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Speaker 6: is Leila Rasavi, who heads Freedom for Immigrants, a national

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Speaker 6: advocacy group.

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Speaker 11: It's already a challenge to get ICE to do anything

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Speaker 11: and investigate its own employees, and so I think when

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Speaker 11: it comes to exercising that type of accountability over a

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Speaker 11: private entity, it's that much harder to really get transparency

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Speaker 11: for what's happening or any type of reformer change.

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Speaker 6: In ICE's own reports and public records. We found that

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Speaker 6: between twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two, there were

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Speaker 6: at least five allegations of sexual abuse at Stewart. That

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Speaker 6: is in addition to Viviana Mari and other women who've

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Speaker 6: alleged sexual assault by the male nurse.

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Speaker 2: At this point in our investigation, we want to stop

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Speaker 2: and take a look at the big picture when it

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Speaker 2: comes to accountability for sexual abuse in ICE detention. So Zeba,

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Speaker 2: you requested data from the Department of Homeland Security, right.

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Speaker 5: Yes, Maria.

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Speaker 6: I wanted to understand how frequently immigrants are filing complaints

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Speaker 6: about sexual abuse in ICE detention. Remember Priya, the lord

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Speaker 6: that protects detainees, says that there is zero tolerance for

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Speaker 6: sexual abuse and detention. I wanted to know what was

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Speaker 6: ICE doing about these complaints, So after waiting for six months,

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Speaker 6: I received data from the Department of Homeland Security or DHS,

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Speaker 6: which supervisors ICE.

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Speaker 1: So tell me what you found.

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Speaker 6: I got the latest federal data that's available, three hundred

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Speaker 6: and eight complaints of sexual assault and abuse. They were

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Speaker 6: filed between twenty five teen and twenty twenty one by

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Speaker 6: immigrants who were held in ICE detention centers.

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Speaker 2: When you think about it, that's actually a high number

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Speaker 2: because we know that most people don't report rape or

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Speaker 2: sexual assault or abuse. So think about immigrants who are

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Speaker 2: in a detention facility and their feelings of vulnerability. So

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Speaker 2: more than three hundred documented complaints is substantial.

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Speaker 6: And in my reporting, I found that more than half

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Speaker 6: of these complaints are against staff in detention centers, so

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Speaker 6: they filed against ICE employees, contractual gods, and people who

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Speaker 6: are supposed to protect detainees.

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Speaker 2: That gives you a sense of the big picture in

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Speaker 2: the data. But let's get back to Madi's story. What

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Speaker 2: happened with Mady is that a female guard saw her

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Speaker 2: and was worried about the abuse that made said was

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Speaker 2: happening at Stewart. Mate said that that guard gave her

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Speaker 2: a sheet in order to record her complaint.

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Speaker 1: I am e la keras it's just a box. Marie

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Speaker 1: didn't do it.

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Speaker 2: Though she felt like writing down a complaint on a

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Speaker 2: piece of paper and putting it into a complaint box,

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Speaker 2: it just wasn't enough. This wasn't a complaint about a

444
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:29,960
Speaker 2: bad meal that she had in a restaurant. This was

445
00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:30,920
Speaker 2: an assault.

446
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,200
Speaker 6: In early twenty twenty two, Mari reported the abuse to

447
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:38,880
Speaker 6: ICE and Corcivic. After the complaint was filed, Ice and

448
00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:52,440
Speaker 6: Corcivic launched an internal investigation. Am Mari says that gods

449
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:55,479
Speaker 6: would constantly ask her if she was sure about the abuse,

450
00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:58,400
Speaker 6: and threatened her with up to seven years in prison

451
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:03,600
Speaker 6: if she was lying. We've talked to other detainees and

452
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,280
Speaker 6: they've also told us that they've been scared to complain

453
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:10,040
Speaker 6: because they feared retaliation, but some still decide to speak

454
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:13,840
Speaker 6: up despite the potential consequences. One of those women was

455
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,880
Speaker 6: deteamed in Florida, so we went there with our team

456
00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:18,760
Speaker 6: to see where she was held in detention.

457
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:23,280
Speaker 2: In November of twenty twenty two, Zeba and I flew

458
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:26,280
Speaker 2: to Miami. This time we got in a car and

459
00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:30,720
Speaker 2: we drove to the Glades County Detention Center. We can

460
00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 2: see an ice, big ice sign for one particular entrance,

461
00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:37,160
Speaker 2: all in big red letters.

462
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:42,640
Speaker 6: I think another thing with Clades is just how remote

463
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:46,240
Speaker 6: it is. It's not next to any major city in Florida.

464
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:47,480
Speaker 6: It is rural in Florida.

465
00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:51,160
Speaker 2: To get there, we drove through a vast landscape of

466
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:53,880
Speaker 2: sugar cane fields, which took us more than two and

467
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:57,760
Speaker 2: a half hours away from downtown Miami. Now this makes

468
00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:01,160
Speaker 2: it really hard for family members and lawyers to visit detainees.

469
00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:04,600
Speaker 6: One of the women who was detained at Leeds County

470
00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:07,960
Speaker 6: Detention Center was mart Lissa Joseph. For the last year

471
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,560
Speaker 6: and a half, while she was still in attention, I

472
00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:12,000
Speaker 6: have been in touch with Merdlissa.

473
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,360
Speaker 12: Hi, Melissa, and it's so good to hear from you.

474
00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:21,480
Speaker 6: How are you doing today?

475
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 8: I'm fining yourself.

476
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:25,959
Speaker 6: We chatted frequently on the phone, so her voice might

477
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,800
Speaker 6: be a little harder to understand sometimes, hide is still okay.

478
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,480
Speaker 6: Merdlissa is from the Bahamas. She arrived in the US

479
00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:36,600
Speaker 6: in twenty thirteen, when she was just fifteen years old.

480
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:39,960
Speaker 6: She came with her mother, grandmother, and her younger sister

481
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:42,160
Speaker 6: escaping from an abusive relative.

482
00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:45,760
Speaker 2: While Merlissa was in the United States, she was an

483
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:50,000
Speaker 2: excellent student. She got straight a's. If you look at

484
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:54,720
Speaker 2: her graduation picture, you see this beautiful black teenager with gleaming,

485
00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:59,080
Speaker 2: big eyes and a very big, proud smile. After high school,

486
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,479
Speaker 2: she enrolled at a university in Florida. She had plans

487
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:03,800
Speaker 2: to become a lawyer.

488
00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:07,880
Speaker 6: In college, she met a guy ten years older than her.

489
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:11,760
Speaker 6: She started skipping classes to be with him, and when

490
00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:15,000
Speaker 6: he got caught in a robbery, Merlissa was with him.

491
00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:19,560
Speaker 6: According to her lawyer, at nineteen years old, she was arrested.

492
00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 5: I was still a kid.

493
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:24,800
Speaker 8: Thanks to America, advertised as the land of second Chances,

494
00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:28,720
Speaker 8: the land of forgiveness. I don't feel forgiven.

495
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:30,880
Speaker 5: I don't see a second chance.

496
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:39,160
Speaker 6: Martlissa spent almost two years in prison after serving her sentence.

497
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:42,880
Speaker 6: Instead of being released, she was transferred to Ice detention

498
00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:45,720
Speaker 6: in twenty twenty one. This is a common practice for

499
00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:49,800
Speaker 6: people who are immigrants. Marlissa was transferred to Glades County

500
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:53,880
Speaker 6: detention center, and she found that her experience in Iiced

501
00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:56,600
Speaker 6: detention was even worse than prison.

502
00:32:57,800 --> 00:32:59,840
Speaker 8: The college. You never had the world but wireism on

503
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,560
Speaker 8: none of that. You never had to worry about Sharon

504
00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:04,640
Speaker 8: o'showow and like none of that.

505
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:07,120
Speaker 5: And then I came to Glade and I was like

506
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:10,920
Speaker 5: what She says that the bathrooms were open and that

507
00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:13,800
Speaker 5: she had heard from other women that the guards had

508
00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,960
Speaker 5: a direct view of what was going on in the bathroom.

509
00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 12: Do you also to see the shock of shadow went?

510
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:22,400
Speaker 5: I was like, hey, you see it was a male

511
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:24,400
Speaker 5: and how often did this happen?

512
00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:25,960
Speaker 12: Like?

513
00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:28,360
Speaker 2: Okday issue.

514
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:30,680
Speaker 6: PRIA.

515
00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:34,120
Speaker 2: The law we talked about earlier that is supposed to

516
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:41,760
Speaker 2: protect detainees from sexual abuse, prohibits cross gender viewing. Half

517
00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:45,680
Speaker 2: a dozen women we spoke to confirmed that this was

518
00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:49,520
Speaker 2: a norm at Glades. Marlisa tells us that when she

519
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:54,280
Speaker 2: was moved to Glades, her depression from her traumatic childhood

520
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:59,360
Speaker 2: got worse. So one morning she went to see the psychiatrist.

521
00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:05,680
Speaker 6: She told us that when she entered the room, the doctor,

522
00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:09,080
Speaker 6: a white, middle aged man, was staring at her. She

523
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:11,839
Speaker 6: recalled that his eyes trailed the nape of her neck,

524
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:13,440
Speaker 6: going all the way down.

525
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:16,839
Speaker 8: To her thighs. He made no more comments about the uniformer. Oh,

526
00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:19,120
Speaker 8: next time we tidy uniform.

527
00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:23,040
Speaker 6: She was all alone with him in a small room.

528
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 6: It smelt very strongly of antiseptic and bleach. Wr Lissa

529
00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:28,480
Speaker 6: could feel the room shrinking.

530
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:30,200
Speaker 1: I felt uncomfortable.

531
00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:31,960
Speaker 8: I felt really uncomfortable.

532
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:35,560
Speaker 6: And the inappropriate behavior continued on her next visit.

533
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,200
Speaker 5: And one time you told me that, oh, you very

534
00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:40,800
Speaker 5: beautifuls remind me of my wife.

535
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:43,719
Speaker 8: Oh, by the way, I love foreigner, my wife and

536
00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:47,400
Speaker 8: a foreigner herself comment towards you.

537
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:51,600
Speaker 6: Merlissa felt triggered. The doctor's comments took her back to

538
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:55,359
Speaker 6: the abuse she experienced in the Bahamas as a young teen.

539
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:57,160
Speaker 8: Our bead abuse than the past.

540
00:34:57,320 --> 00:34:59,720
Speaker 1: That's what really pushed my mom to even bring.

541
00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:00,640
Speaker 8: Us through the that is saith.

542
00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:06,400
Speaker 2: But even though Merlissa was feeling vulnerable and triggered, she

543
00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:09,920
Speaker 2: actually makes a decision to complain.

544
00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:14,920
Speaker 6: Yes, Maria. Marlissa joined six other women and filed a

545
00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:19,000
Speaker 6: civil rights complaint with the Department of Homeland Security against

546
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:23,560
Speaker 6: the psychiatrist of Glades, accusing him of sexual harassment. They

547
00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:27,719
Speaker 6: also complained about sexual voyeurism. Remember the open showers and

548
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:29,480
Speaker 6: medical neglect at that center.

549
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:35,640
Speaker 2: So let's zoom out for a second, because we have

550
00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:39,280
Speaker 2: another woman now and another immigrant detention facility who's also

551
00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:43,719
Speaker 2: filing a complaint. So Zeba tell us what happens when

552
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:46,359
Speaker 2: a person does file a complaint. I mean, what else

553
00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:49,239
Speaker 2: did you find in those more than three hundred complaints

554
00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:50,360
Speaker 2: that you showed me earlier?

555
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:54,560
Speaker 6: Here they are, Maria, as you can see, oh wow,

556
00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:57,200
Speaker 6: we need a magnifying glass. But as you can see,

557
00:35:58,320 --> 00:35:58,640
Speaker 6: this is.

558
00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:01,319
Speaker 5: Heavily Wait wait, is this.

559
00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:03,040
Speaker 1: How they sent it to you? Yep.

560
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:08,440
Speaker 2: So it's pages after pages of the complaints. The way

561
00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:11,200
Speaker 2: they send it to you. It's like really teeny tiny

562
00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:14,800
Speaker 2: font and then there's a lot of redaction, Like in

563
00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:18,359
Speaker 2: this one, half of the complaint is redacted. In this one,

564
00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:22,160
Speaker 2: a third of the complaint is redacted. So what else

565
00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:25,759
Speaker 2: were you able to find from this paperwork that you've

566
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:26,279
Speaker 2: just showed me?

567
00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:31,120
Speaker 6: I requested certain data about sexual assault and sexual abuse

568
00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:34,840
Speaker 6: complaints that were filed by immigrants in detention centers, and

569
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:36,360
Speaker 6: this is what I get in response.

570
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:39,120
Speaker 2: I mean, what's incredible is that you just have like

571
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:42,960
Speaker 2: so many in this one column. It's like Priya, Priya, Priya, Priya,

572
00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:45,719
Speaker 2: so that definitely stands out for me.

573
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:48,919
Speaker 6: They have made it difficult for us to really read

574
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:52,000
Speaker 6: this data in many cases, Maria. As you can see

575
00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:54,800
Speaker 6: the columns which are supposed to tell us whether a

576
00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:58,320
Speaker 6: case was investigated, whether it was opened, whether it was closed,

577
00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:02,919
Speaker 6: that column is left blank. The Office of Civil Rights

578
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:06,000
Speaker 6: and Civil Liberties or CrCL as they are known, is

579
00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:09,760
Speaker 6: the body within the Department of Homeland Security that investigates

580
00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:12,400
Speaker 6: these complaints. In fact, that is the body that released

581
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:15,840
Speaker 6: this data to us, Maria. But when this office submits

582
00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:19,360
Speaker 6: its findings after an investigation, they submit it to ICE,

583
00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:23,000
Speaker 6: and ICE can object what details can be made public

584
00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:25,640
Speaker 6: and what needs to be redacted, and that is why

585
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:27,800
Speaker 6: most of what we see here is redacted.

586
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:32,600
Speaker 2: So it means that ICE is kind of investigating itself

587
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:37,520
Speaker 2: and also making decisions about what shouldar shouldn't be public,

588
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:39,880
Speaker 2: when essentially it should be public.

589
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:43,120
Speaker 6: Well that is how we would imagine it to be.

590
00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:47,800
Speaker 6: But ICE sight's privacy and security concerns, and that argument

591
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,719
Speaker 6: holds when it comes to four YUR norms. But the

592
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:54,239
Speaker 6: parts that we can read in these documents, Maria, they're

593
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:58,719
Speaker 6: very graphic and disturbing descriptions of sexual abuse cases stories

594
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:01,919
Speaker 6: similar to the ones we've heard from Viviana, from Mari

595
00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:04,640
Speaker 6: and now from mar Lissa so Zeba.

596
00:38:05,120 --> 00:38:07,600
Speaker 2: Were you able to find out anything about what happened

597
00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:11,000
Speaker 2: to these sexual abuse complaints and whether or not they

598
00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:13,200
Speaker 2: were actually investigated.

599
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:16,279
Speaker 6: Not clearly from these documents, because, like I said, many

600
00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:20,600
Speaker 6: columns pertaining two investigations are left blank. But asper IS's

601
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:24,600
Speaker 6: own latest audit by CrCL, the office that performs these investigations,

602
00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 6: only one in four complaints actually get investigated.

603
00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:30,680
Speaker 1: Wow, one in four, okay.

604
00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:34,080
Speaker 6: And there's another way that cases of abuse stay unresolved

605
00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:39,000
Speaker 6: and there are no consequences against perpetrators. Detainees are transferred

606
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:40,920
Speaker 6: from one detention center to another.

607
00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:44,400
Speaker 2: So we saw this right because after the medical abuse

608
00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:48,680
Speaker 2: scandal at Irwin in Georgia, that facility is closed and

609
00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:51,560
Speaker 2: the women are transferred to another detention center in Georgia.

610
00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:56,000
Speaker 2: This time it's Stuart and in fact that's where Vivianna

611
00:38:56,120 --> 00:39:00,160
Speaker 2: and Marie were held. So it's using these transfers in

612
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:04,680
Speaker 2: order to not deal with the issue, essentially shuffling it off.

613
00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:09,240
Speaker 6: And these women were not only transferred, they were also

614
00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:13,080
Speaker 6: potentially exposed to abuse. Again, as we've seen with the

615
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,040
Speaker 6: complaints against the male nurse.

616
00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:16,960
Speaker 1: So this stands out in this story.

617
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 2: Zeba the notion that transfers are being used in a

618
00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:25,719
Speaker 2: kind of pattern. Instead of dealing with the problem, you

619
00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:27,400
Speaker 2: make a transfer.

620
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,920
Speaker 6: And Maria, it's not just a pattern that has emerged

621
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:37,960
Speaker 6: in our reporting. Advocates like Leila Rasavi from Freedom for Immigrants,

622
00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:41,960
Speaker 6: who we heard from earlier, says that ICE also uses

623
00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:45,759
Speaker 6: transfers to punish people who complain. A report from her

624
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:50,360
Speaker 6: organization found that since twenty seventeen, ICE has closed thirty

625
00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:54,200
Speaker 6: six detention centers across the country, and many immigrants who

626
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:57,640
Speaker 6: were in those centers were not released. Instead, they were

627
00:39:57,680 --> 00:39:59,759
Speaker 6: transferred to other detention facilities.

628
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:04,520
Speaker 11: This often happened, in particular in places where people were organizing,

629
00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:08,320
Speaker 11: where they were challenging their detention, and so an easy

630
00:40:08,440 --> 00:40:11,760
Speaker 11: way for us to punish the person and retaliate against

631
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:14,560
Speaker 11: them is to get rid of them, to move them.

632
00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:22,480
Speaker 6: The fear of punishment. The fear of retaliation didn't stop Merlissa,

633
00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:25,719
Speaker 6: the woman from the Bahamas we heard from earlier, from

634
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:29,399
Speaker 6: speaking up about the abuse she faced, But even after

635
00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:33,320
Speaker 6: she filed a civil rights complaint against Glades, she said

636
00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:34,959
Speaker 6: that nothing changed.

637
00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:39,560
Speaker 2: Merlisa told us that for nearly two months after she

638
00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:45,880
Speaker 2: filed the complaint, the accused psychiatrist kept on working at Glades.

639
00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:47,560
Speaker 12: Nobody wanted to make.

640
00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:51,160
Speaker 5: Talk with them again, and very nice that I didn't even.

641
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:52,239
Speaker 7: I made that quite.

642
00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:57,680
Speaker 6: Glades was finally closed in April twenty twenty two, but

643
00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:01,200
Speaker 6: it wasn't because of the sexual harassment plans. It was

644
00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:05,600
Speaker 6: because of a carbon monoxide leak that almost killed three people.

645
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:11,720
Speaker 2: When Glades was closed, ICE transferred women to the Baker

646
00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:17,719
Speaker 2: County Detention Center, five hours north of Glades, and Merlissa

647
00:41:18,440 --> 00:41:20,239
Speaker 2: was one of those people transferred.

648
00:41:20,719 --> 00:41:24,360
Speaker 6: When we spoke to Merlissa months after she was transferred

649
00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:29,000
Speaker 6: to Baker, the new facility, she regretted, complaining about Glades.

650
00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:32,520
Speaker 8: Oh my gosh, I say, it's one hundred times like

651
00:41:33,200 --> 00:41:36,960
Speaker 8: the articles are more. Did you successful? Look like we

652
00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:38,000
Speaker 8: went from badworth.

653
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:47,600
Speaker 2: So we're seeing that one ICE detention center closes, that

654
00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:52,280
Speaker 2: women are just transferred and then sexually abused and harassed again.

655
00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:55,040
Speaker 2: And this is according to their testimonies. We saw this

656
00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:59,360
Speaker 2: first in Georgia, and now with Marlissa's story, we're seeing

657
00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:01,000
Speaker 2: it happen in Florida.

658
00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:05,600
Speaker 6: It's clear that moving detainees around is not keeping them safe,

659
00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:09,399
Speaker 6: but as of now, ICE continues to operate around one

660
00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:16,719
Speaker 6: hundred detention facilities across the country. Despite the fear of punishment.

661
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:20,880
Speaker 6: Mardlissa and four other women wrote open letters about conditions

662
00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:24,719
Speaker 6: at Baker County Detention Center. That's the second facility where

663
00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:28,000
Speaker 6: Merlissa was transferred to after Glades in Florida. The women

664
00:42:28,160 --> 00:42:33,040
Speaker 6: detailed sexual abuse, voyeurism, medical neglect, racial slurs, and poor

665
00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:34,720
Speaker 6: sanitary conditions at Baker.

666
00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:37,880
Speaker 2: In fact, up to her very last days in detention,

667
00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:41,600
Speaker 2: Merlissa kept on criticizing ICE just.

668
00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:43,239
Speaker 8: Because they are then they look at it as you

669
00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:44,960
Speaker 8: haven't all right, So I feel like that's why they

670
00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:48,080
Speaker 8: don't care. But if ICE will stop all the transfers

671
00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:50,880
Speaker 8: in put a stop for all of this. But instead

672
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:52,919
Speaker 8: of like, ICE is so aramant about keeping you away

673
00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:53,840
Speaker 8: from your family and.

674
00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:56,239
Speaker 7: It's sad.

675
00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:02,960
Speaker 6: In February of twenty twenty three, a Baker guard came

676
00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:05,080
Speaker 6: up to mart Lissa to take her to the office.

677
00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:09,000
Speaker 6: Marlissa's lawyer told us that she thought that she was

678
00:43:09,200 --> 00:43:13,600
Speaker 6: finally going to be released. Instead, that same day, Martlissa

679
00:43:13,719 --> 00:43:16,680
Speaker 6: was devoted back to the Bahamas, a country that she

680
00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:21,279
Speaker 6: barely remembers and she has no family. In her dream

681
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:23,680
Speaker 6: remains to come back to the United States.

682
00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:35,880
Speaker 2: Coming up on Latino USA, we follow up with Viviana

683
00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:39,520
Speaker 2: and Marie, the women from Venezuela who say they were

684
00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:43,680
Speaker 2: abused at the Stuart Detention Center in Georgia. We follow

685
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:47,080
Speaker 2: them as they continue their fight to hold ICE accountable,

686
00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:49,759
Speaker 2: and we try to get answers from ICE and cour

687
00:43:49,880 --> 00:43:53,840
Speaker 2: Civic as to why complaints about alleged abuses continue to

688
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:56,000
Speaker 2: happen under their care.

689
00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:58,560
Speaker 1: Stay with us, not the Bayas.

690
00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:11,840
Speaker 12: Hello. My name is Shirley Gonzalez. I'm from San Antonio, Texas.

691
00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:16,440
Speaker 12: I remember listening to Latino USA in the mid nineties.

692
00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:19,640
Speaker 12: I had just graduated from college and my brother and

693
00:44:19,719 --> 00:44:23,000
Speaker 12: I worked together and at twelve o'clock on our local

694
00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:27,920
Speaker 12: station on Friday afternoons, Latino USA would come on, and

695
00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:30,319
Speaker 12: that was when I would close the door and said

696
00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:33,359
Speaker 12: I had a very important meeting, and I would sit

697
00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:37,680
Speaker 12: in silence just listening to Latino USA and listening to Maria.

698
00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:40,279
Speaker 12: I know HOOFA and it was such an important part

699
00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:44,200
Speaker 12: of my upbringing in those early years after college. Thank

700
00:44:44,239 --> 00:44:47,440
Speaker 12: you so much to Latino USA. I feel like we've

701
00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:48,320
Speaker 12: grown up together.

702
00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:59,320
Speaker 2: Hey, we're back. Before the break, we learned how Merlissa

703
00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:01,920
Speaker 2: Joseph and other women held at a detention center in

704
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:06,120
Speaker 2: Florida filed a complaint against a psychiatrist who they say

705
00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:12,000
Speaker 2: abused them. After Glades closed, women like Marlissa were transferred

706
00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:15,479
Speaker 2: to another detention facility in the state, where she says

707
00:45:15,719 --> 00:45:19,440
Speaker 2: she was also sexually harassed, a pattern that we've already

708
00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:24,120
Speaker 2: seen play out in Georgia as well. So Zeba, can

709
00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:26,600
Speaker 2: you give us an update on Bivienna and Marie, the

710
00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:29,120
Speaker 2: Venezuelan women we met at the beginning of our story

711
00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:32,200
Speaker 2: and who were detained at Stuart in Georgia.

712
00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:37,839
Speaker 6: Two days before her birthday. In December of twenty twenty one,

713
00:45:38,239 --> 00:45:40,840
Speaker 6: Viviana was finally released from Stuart.

714
00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:48,920
Speaker 7: Condo Yomlo Graya mikas Ali.

715
00:45:49,360 --> 00:45:52,600
Speaker 6: After being in detention for nearly three months. The feeling

716
00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:56,840
Speaker 6: of being out of Stuart was sadrial. Viviana moved to

717
00:45:56,880 --> 00:45:59,719
Speaker 6: Texas to be with her family. Her mom organized a

718
00:45:59,760 --> 00:46:03,759
Speaker 6: little party with other family members, but Viviana wasn't in

719
00:46:03,840 --> 00:46:04,800
Speaker 6: the mood to celebrate.

720
00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:13,520
Speaker 7: Yeah, we wanted to hus see Kaya.

721
00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:17,320
Speaker 2: She says that as her family gathered for the occasion,

722
00:46:17,680 --> 00:46:21,680
Speaker 2: she kept to herself and remained quiet. Her mental health

723
00:46:21,840 --> 00:46:25,479
Speaker 2: was deeply affected by her time and attention. She says

724
00:46:25,520 --> 00:46:29,320
Speaker 2: she suffered from anxiety and depression and had frequent nightmares.

725
00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:31,920
Speaker 5: Alio Looka.

726
00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:37,640
Speaker 6: Vivianna said that her family told her that she was

727
00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:40,480
Speaker 6: acting like she was out of her mind. For almost

728
00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:43,920
Speaker 6: two years, she says that she has been under psychiatric treatment.

729
00:46:48,719 --> 00:46:52,880
Speaker 2: Now let's talk about Marie, the other Venezuelan woman who

730
00:46:52,960 --> 00:46:53,760
Speaker 2: we heard from earlier.

731
00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:57,320
Speaker 6: Mari was also released. Her legal team told us that

732
00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:00,640
Speaker 6: the release documents cite severe obesis and.

733
00:47:01,360 --> 00:47:04,520
Speaker 1: When we just met you, you are the furthest thing

734
00:47:04,600 --> 00:47:05,280
Speaker 1: from obese.

735
00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:12,279
Speaker 2: MARII suspects that I in fact released her in order

736
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:15,279
Speaker 2: to silence her, because she says there were women at

737
00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:18,479
Speaker 2: Stuart who were being abused by the same person every

738
00:47:18,719 --> 00:47:26,360
Speaker 2: single day. The day that Mary finally left Stuart, she

739
00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:31,239
Speaker 2: remembers hearing the sounds of birds. She says she never

740
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:34,279
Speaker 2: valued her freedom more than she did on that day,

741
00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:38,520
Speaker 2: and yet the pain of being detained and abused has

742
00:47:38,640 --> 00:47:43,640
Speaker 2: also taken a toll on her mental health. After the abuse,

743
00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:48,880
Speaker 2: she didn't recognize herself when she looked in the mirror, Yeah, you.

744
00:47:53,200 --> 00:48:03,800
Speaker 10: Know, Parisindia Dani Minsimini Visili.

745
00:48:05,160 --> 00:48:08,400
Speaker 2: Marie says she started to believe that she didn't have

746
00:48:08,480 --> 00:48:11,720
Speaker 2: a right to wear nice clothes, to put on makeup,

747
00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:16,320
Speaker 2: to even be fit again. She says she often felt

748
00:48:16,400 --> 00:48:22,520
Speaker 2: like she didn't matter anymore, that she was just immensely invisible.

749
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:32,160
Speaker 6: This month, it's been about a year since Viviana and

750
00:48:32,280 --> 00:48:35,959
Speaker 6: Marie filed their public sexual abuse complaints, but there's still

751
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:44,240
Speaker 6: no resolution. I have been requesting an interview with ICE

752
00:48:44,360 --> 00:48:47,680
Speaker 6: for nearly two years to ask about what they've been

753
00:48:47,760 --> 00:48:51,960
Speaker 6: doing to address sexual abuse allegations, and also about Marie

754
00:48:52,040 --> 00:48:57,000
Speaker 6: and Viviana's complaints and what's happened Maria. I only got

755
00:48:57,160 --> 00:48:59,879
Speaker 6: a written response, and this is part of what it says.

756
00:49:00,760 --> 00:49:05,040
Speaker 2: So it says ICE holds its personnel, including contractors, to

757
00:49:05,120 --> 00:49:09,080
Speaker 2: the highest standards of professional and ethical behavior. The agency

758
00:49:09,600 --> 00:49:13,879
Speaker 2: takes all allegations of misconduct seriously. I would say that's

759
00:49:13,920 --> 00:49:19,759
Speaker 2: a pretty standard statement. They're not really saying anything deep

760
00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:21,160
Speaker 2: here exactly.

761
00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:26,160
Speaker 6: And besides ICE, I've also tried interviewing Courcivic, the private

762
00:49:26,239 --> 00:49:30,280
Speaker 6: prison company that manages Steward Detention Center. In an email

763
00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:33,680
Speaker 6: a public affairs manager of cour Civic route, if a

764
00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:36,960
Speaker 6: detainee is found to be at substantial risk of imminent

765
00:49:37,080 --> 00:49:41,000
Speaker 6: sexual abuse, immediate action is taken to protect the individual.

766
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:45,760
Speaker 6: Any potentially criminal allegation of sexual abuse is immediately referred

767
00:49:45,760 --> 00:49:48,920
Speaker 6: to law enforcement and shared with our government partner.

768
00:49:49,600 --> 00:49:52,120
Speaker 2: So what did happen to the male nurse that Marii

769
00:49:52,200 --> 00:49:53,920
Speaker 2: and Vinsa sexually abused them?

770
00:49:53,960 --> 00:49:54,399
Speaker 1: After all?

771
00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:58,920
Speaker 6: Well, the accused nurse doesn't work at Stewart anymore. Courcivic

772
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:02,600
Speaker 6: confirmed that he put on administrative leave in August of

773
00:50:02,719 --> 00:50:06,560
Speaker 6: twenty twenty two, eight months after Viviana and mari say

774
00:50:06,719 --> 00:50:09,880
Speaker 6: they were abused, But so far his license has not

775
00:50:10,080 --> 00:50:14,040
Speaker 6: been revoked. In fact, I have tried calling him several times,

776
00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:17,520
Speaker 6: We've sent him our questions, but we've received no response.

777
00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:20,680
Speaker 6: We also asked ICE and Courcivic if the nurse is

778
00:50:20,760 --> 00:50:24,000
Speaker 6: still receiving any benefits or if he remains employed at

779
00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:28,560
Speaker 6: another facility, but they did not respond. For now, Stewart

780
00:50:28,600 --> 00:50:33,080
Speaker 6: Detention Center is still in operation and is still detaining immigrants,

781
00:50:35,120 --> 00:50:35,800
Speaker 6: so ze about.

782
00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:38,040
Speaker 2: One of the things that also hasn't changed in my

783
00:50:38,200 --> 00:50:41,640
Speaker 2: decades of reporting on this issue is that the institutions,

784
00:50:41,680 --> 00:50:45,680
Speaker 2: and the government will simply say we can't respond. It's

785
00:50:45,719 --> 00:50:49,239
Speaker 2: a way in which they continue to not deal with

786
00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:52,000
Speaker 2: the fact that we're uncovering these kinds of abuses.

787
00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:56,840
Speaker 6: Absolutely, Maria, and I can imagine your frustration having reported

788
00:50:56,920 --> 00:50:59,320
Speaker 6: on this issue for so many years, because I have

789
00:50:59,480 --> 00:51:02,640
Speaker 6: felt it over the last two years, so many emails

790
00:51:02,640 --> 00:51:05,279
Speaker 6: that I've written to Ice, so many emails that I've

791
00:51:05,280 --> 00:51:07,560
Speaker 6: written to cour Civic asking them what they have to

792
00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:11,279
Speaker 6: say about specific allegations that these women are raising. But

793
00:51:11,840 --> 00:51:14,080
Speaker 6: it's been so tough to get through to them.

794
00:51:14,640 --> 00:51:17,680
Speaker 2: It's a way in which it becomes an institutional problem

795
00:51:18,520 --> 00:51:23,120
Speaker 2: and we get brushed off, and yet you know, the

796
00:51:23,239 --> 00:51:31,400
Speaker 2: story continues. So we decided to catch up with Mary

797
00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:35,080
Speaker 2: to see how she feels about the fact that for her,

798
00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:43,400
Speaker 2: there's still no resolution to her complaint. Marie told us

799
00:51:43,560 --> 00:51:55,360
Speaker 2: that she has found solace in becoming an activist. She

800
00:51:55,560 --> 00:52:00,160
Speaker 2: traveled back to Georgia last year to attend a shutdown Stewart.

801
00:52:00,080 --> 00:52:10,440
Speaker 1: Protest he Toyaki with your Yo, Mira me.

802
00:52:13,800 --> 00:52:16,839
Speaker 2: Marie says that her biggest motivation is to tell us

803
00:52:17,480 --> 00:52:21,560
Speaker 2: I'm here, you did this to me, Look at me,

804
00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:25,200
Speaker 2: you didn't kill me, I'm here.

805
00:52:27,880 --> 00:52:31,920
Speaker 6: And Viviana also demands the closure of Stuart Detention Center.

806
00:52:32,760 --> 00:52:36,879
Speaker 7: What does justice look like for youa?

807
00:52:40,280 --> 00:52:40,520
Speaker 9: The in.

808
00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:46,000
Speaker 2: Viviana wants the nurse to be brought to criminal court

809
00:52:46,200 --> 00:52:48,359
Speaker 2: and that he shouldn't be allowed to work in any

810
00:52:48,600 --> 00:52:50,200
Speaker 2: detention center again.

811
00:52:50,960 --> 00:52:54,520
Speaker 6: The Jojo Buro of Investigation or gb I, took Viviana

812
00:52:54,600 --> 00:52:57,920
Speaker 6: and Mari's case last year. Gb I told us that

813
00:52:58,160 --> 00:53:01,960
Speaker 6: it has completed its investigator and submitted its finding to

814
00:53:02,080 --> 00:53:06,280
Speaker 6: the District Attorney's office. The DA's office did not respond

815
00:53:06,320 --> 00:53:11,279
Speaker 6: to our questions. Neither Mari nor Viviana or other complainants

816
00:53:11,640 --> 00:53:15,440
Speaker 6: have been given an update yet. Meanwhile, Mari fears that

817
00:53:15,560 --> 00:53:19,279
Speaker 6: the nurse is out there and free. Soyo sola me

818
00:53:20,320 --> 00:53:26,920
Speaker 6: so mocha. Viviana and Mari have become each other's support system.

819
00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:38,840
Speaker 3: Ozziamramat record that.

820
00:53:39,640 --> 00:53:42,959
Speaker 2: Mari says they try to keep in touch, but tells

821
00:53:43,040 --> 00:53:46,920
Speaker 2: us sometimes the trauma just gets in the way of

822
00:53:47,040 --> 00:53:51,439
Speaker 2: them becoming closer. They don't want to relive their time

823
00:53:51,520 --> 00:53:54,560
Speaker 2: at Stewart, but at the same time, they both understand

824
00:53:54,960 --> 00:54:08,560
Speaker 2: what each other went through. When we last spoke to

825
00:54:08,640 --> 00:54:13,839
Speaker 2: Mari in May, she was suffering from facial paralysis, she says.

826
00:54:13,880 --> 00:54:18,839
Speaker 2: Her doctor says it's caused by cumulative stress, including her

827
00:54:18,920 --> 00:54:19,680
Speaker 2: time at Stewart.

828
00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:22,920
Speaker 6: But while she recovers, she hopes to start working out

829
00:54:23,000 --> 00:54:28,319
Speaker 6: again man it is a form of therapy for her.

830
00:54:28,920 --> 00:54:32,800
Speaker 6: Mary jokes about getting into bodybuilding again and even competing.

831
00:54:33,440 --> 00:54:35,359
Speaker 6: Some of her friends are cheering her own.

832
00:54:36,440 --> 00:54:39,480
Speaker 2: As for Viviana, she has a big reason to keep

833
00:54:39,560 --> 00:54:44,080
Speaker 2: getting stronger to heal, and that's because she recently had

834
00:54:44,400 --> 00:54:47,080
Speaker 2: her first baby's.

835
00:54:51,680 --> 00:54:58,040
Speaker 1: Ni barakal.

836
00:54:58,600 --> 00:54:58,640
Speaker 4: Me.

837
00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:02,399
Speaker 2: She felt that her baby arrived just at the right time.

838
00:55:02,880 --> 00:55:06,680
Speaker 2: Her depression and anxiety have eased a little, but she

839
00:55:06,880 --> 00:55:09,120
Speaker 2: still wants to go back to therapy.

840
00:55:10,040 --> 00:55:13,440
Speaker 6: Viviana has sent us photos of the baby via text,

841
00:55:13,800 --> 00:55:17,560
Speaker 6: and they're absolutely adorable. In the photo of the baby's

842
00:55:17,640 --> 00:55:22,239
Speaker 6: eyes are closed while sucking on an aquamarine pacifier. She's

843
00:55:22,320 --> 00:55:25,759
Speaker 6: draped in a tiny pink knitted hat. Mari is also

844
00:55:25,920 --> 00:55:26,520
Speaker 6: so happy for.

845
00:55:26,560 --> 00:55:37,040
Speaker 3: Her friend danaciosuvawemoza simpretra simpretra sola.

846
00:55:38,120 --> 00:55:42,560
Speaker 2: She says Vivianna's baby girl is just beautiful, and she

847
00:55:42,680 --> 00:55:45,360
Speaker 2: says she tries to watch out for Viviana so that

848
00:55:45,480 --> 00:55:53,160
Speaker 2: she doesn't feel so alone. While both women are in

849
00:55:53,239 --> 00:55:57,560
Speaker 2: a very public battle over their cases. Many sexual abuse

850
00:55:57,640 --> 00:56:01,719
Speaker 2: complaints are still waiting to be instigated. Will there be

851
00:56:01,840 --> 00:56:05,960
Speaker 2: criminal charges for the staff who was accused of committing abuses?

852
00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:10,799
Speaker 2: How will the Department of Homeland Security step in to investigate?

853
00:56:11,680 --> 00:56:15,600
Speaker 2: And above all, what measures will ICE take to prevent

854
00:56:15,719 --> 00:56:20,000
Speaker 2: this from continuing to happen. I've been reporting on these

855
00:56:20,080 --> 00:56:24,080
Speaker 2: types of abuses for over a decade, and Zeba is

856
00:56:24,200 --> 00:56:28,440
Speaker 2: doing it now and more reporters we hope will continue

857
00:56:28,560 --> 00:56:33,560
Speaker 2: to do this kind of reporting in the next generation. Meanwhile, Viviana,

858
00:56:33,880 --> 00:56:38,000
Speaker 2: Marii and Marlissa, along with other women, continue their personal

859
00:56:38,160 --> 00:56:39,200
Speaker 2: journeys to.

860
00:56:39,320 --> 00:56:57,640
Speaker 1: Speak out and to heal immensely.

861
00:56:57,719 --> 00:57:01,000
Speaker 2: Invisible is an original production by Foot Duo Investigates in

862
00:57:01,040 --> 00:57:05,200
Speaker 2: collaboration with Latino USA. This episode was reported by Zaba

863
00:57:05,280 --> 00:57:10,040
Speaker 2: Warsi and myself. Our senior producer was Roxanne Scott, Froxada

864
00:57:10,120 --> 00:57:13,840
Speaker 2: Guire and Sophia Sanchez where our associate producers. This episode

865
00:57:13,960 --> 00:57:17,360
Speaker 2: was edited by Marta Martinez, fact checking by Amy Tardif,

866
00:57:17,760 --> 00:57:21,480
Speaker 2: Scoring and sound designed by Jacob Rosati, mixeding by Stephanie

867
00:57:21,560 --> 00:57:25,320
Speaker 2: Lebo and Gabriel Abias. Penny Lei Ramirez is the executive

868
00:57:25,320 --> 00:57:29,360
Speaker 2: producer of Uturo Investigates along with myself. Nancy Trujillo and

869
00:57:29,560 --> 00:57:34,520
Speaker 2: Raoul Peesino Josa are our project managers. Dorri mar Marquez

870
00:57:34,760 --> 00:57:39,720
Speaker 2: is our production assistant. Our production assistant intern is Luisa Sugar.

871
00:57:40,280 --> 00:57:45,000
Speaker 2: The Latino USA team also includes Andrea Lopez Grussado, Mike Sargent,

872
00:57:45,080 --> 00:57:49,760
Speaker 2: Desi Contreras, Victoria Estrada, Renaldo Leanos Junior, Patrisa Sulbaran, and

873
00:57:49,920 --> 00:57:54,320
Speaker 2: Elizabeth Loenthal Torres. Our editorial director is Fernando Santos. Our

874
00:57:54,480 --> 00:57:58,800
Speaker 2: senior engineer is Julia Caruso. Our associate engineer is jj Carubin.

875
00:57:59,160 --> 00:58:02,240
Speaker 2: Our marketing manager is Luis Luna. Our theme music was

876
00:58:02,320 --> 00:58:05,120
Speaker 2: composed by Sanguete Robinos. I'm your host and executive producer

877
00:58:05,160 --> 00:58:07,840
Speaker 2: Marieo host. How to find out more information about Immensely

878
00:58:07,960 --> 00:58:11,920
Speaker 2: Invisible and to read our articles, please visit our website.

879
00:58:12,280 --> 00:58:17,360
Speaker 2: Futuro investigates dot org again. That's Uturo investigates dot Org.

880
00:58:17,960 --> 00:58:20,120
Speaker 2: Join us again on our next episode. In the meantime,

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00:58:20,200 --> 00:58:24,240
Speaker 2: look for us on social media. Remember not yes, Yes.

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00:58:24,440 --> 00:58:25,600
Speaker 2: Approxima Chau.

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00:58:29,240 --> 00:58:33,560
Speaker 3: Latino Usa is made possible in part by Public Welfare

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00:58:33,640 --> 00:58:39,720
Speaker 3: Foundation Catalyzing transformative approaches to justice that are community led, restorative,

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00:58:40,000 --> 00:58:42,320
Speaker 3: and racially just. W. K.

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00:58:42,640 --> 00:58:47,560
Speaker 7: Kellogg Foundation, a partner with Communities where Children Come First,

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Speaker 7: and the TAU Foundation